Alexandra Blankenbiller: Unvaccinated TikToker dies from Covid, begs fans to get jab
A 31-year-old TikToker from Florida posted a series of heartbreaking videos from her hospital bed, urging her followers to get vaccinated at the earliest. Alexandra Blankenbiller, who was unvaccinated herself, eventually died from Covid a week later. Her shocking death has once again sparked alarm among her followers, whom she begged, "I did not get vaccinated. I do think it was a mistake. I shouldn’t have waited. If you are even 70 percent sure you want the vaccine, go get it. Don’t wait. Go get it. Because hopefully if you get it, then you won’t end up in the hospital like me.'
Blankenbiller, a resident of Jacksonville, died at a time when Florida is experiencing its worst-ever surge in Covid cases since the start of the pandemic. The state recorded an average of 244 deaths per day in August, while only 54 percent of the state population is vaccinated against the infection. On September 9, 2021, President Joe Biden issued a new federal vaccine mandate that will cater to over 100 million Americans. The decision is being vehemently opposed by anti-vaxxers, which include a sizeable number of Republicans. However, Biden proved stern in his stance as he declared, "We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us. The unvaccinated minority can cause a lot of damage, and they are."
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Who was Alexandra Blankenbiller?
Blankenbiller's videos on vaccination, where she had urged others not to repeat her mistake, have gone viral following her death. She contracted Covid sometime in early August and got admitted to the hospital soon afterward.
In one of the videos, she acknowledged her mistake in judgment while clarifying that she was not an anti-vaxxer. "I’m not anti-vax. I was just trying to do my research. I was scared," Blankenbiller said. She further added, "It's OK to have questions, but I'm just telling you guys I was for weeks really thinking about getting it, ready to get it, but frankly I waited because I was trying to convince my whole family to do it at the same time. But if you are in my boat and you're waiting to convince someone else to do it with you, don't. Just get vaccinated."
Unfortunately, shortly before she and her family were diagnosed with Covid, Blankenbiller had scheduled vaccination appointments for herself, her mother and two sisters. However, they were all affected by the disease before their scheduled slots. Among the four, Alexandra became the most critical with her condition worsening day by day.
Despite struggling to breathe, she managed to make four TikTok videos before death, which have garnered millions of views. She talked about hearing screams of pain from other Covid patients in her adjacent hospital wards. "The ‘vid got me guys. DO NOT WAIT TO GET VACCINATED! Go now!! And please pray/send good vibes, etc for me. Stay safe muffins!" she wrote in the caption for her first video, while in another, she stated, "I've been here since early Friday morning, and all I've been hearing are the moans and screams of people in pain. People, I'm assuming that have lost people that they love because I know what that's like personally and what that sounds like."
She posted her first video from the hospital bed on August 13. She had around 16,300 followers on TikTok and her last video on August 15, racked up over 834,000 views. Blankenbiller eventually succumbed to her death on August 24.
"She did not want anyone, even a stranger watching her videos on TikTok, to go through the pain and heartache that she and others on the COVID ward were going through. And if she could help even one person, she would," an acquaintance shared while mourning Blankenbiller's tragic death.